Word-whore. I write 'em. I talk 'em. Information, politics, media, and the cybers. I drink. I use bad words. All publication is a political act. All communication is propaganda. All art is pornography. All business is personal. All hail Eris! Vive les poissons rouges sauvages!
One of the little annoyances in my life is that the clock on the Newtown Post Office in Sydney is permanently stuck at 3.45pm. Public clocks, key piece of civic infrastructure in the Victorian age, are now neglected.
I was therefore rather pleased to stumble across this video clip promoting the Stopped Clocks movement which appeared on the BBC’s The One Show .
Would anyone like to start a Sydney chapter with me? If so, what Stopped Clocks do you know about?
[This article was first published in Crikey on Monday 2 March. Nothing’s changed since then.]
The villain gets thrown off the cliff. He bounces off the rocks into the river and his limp, bleeding form is flushed downstream. Hurrah! But just as our heroes down their first celebratory drinks, the door bursts open and the villain is back — soaking wet and angrier than ever…
“The Government’s plan to introduce mandatory internet censorship has effectively been scuttled,†wrote Asher Moses last Thursday when independent Senator Nick Xenophon withdrew support for the Rudd government’s internet “filtering†plans. Opponents of Senator Conroy’s scheme popped open the virtual champagne and started sending congratulatory messages to anti-censorship lobbyists.
But as blogger Kieran Salsone’s headline put it, “Twitterati blow load over Xenophon: Lobbyists still without cigaretteâ€. Despite Senator Xenophon’s announcement, nothing has actually changed and Senator Conroy has yet to comment.
True, any legislation would need support in the Senate from the Coalition or all seven minor party and independent senators. With the Coalition expressing grave reservations and calling the proposal insulting, and with the Greens and now Xenophon opposed too, any legislation would be blocked.
Blocked, that is, unless someone changes their mind.
Continue reading “So Conroy’s Rabbit-Proof Firewall is dead… or is it?”
The won’t be a Stilgherrian Live tonight. After last week’s journey, and this week’s Silicon Federation seminar Entering the Mobile Ecosystem and yesterday’s Internet filtering forum, my poor little brain is overloaded. If you’re desperate, you can listen to me on A Series of Tubes.
Oh dear. Where do I start? Last night, on a whim, I challenged the people who follow me on Twitter to make fisting a “trending topic”. It worked. It worked very, very well.
Start at the beginning, I guess.
Continue reading “Fisting Twitter and the birth of “trend fisting””I’d just like to say a great big “Thank you” to the chap from Adelaide who was the first person to use the “donate” button on my website. After giving me $50, he said: “The live blogging is good (although I read the last one a day late), but in general I like your Crikey commentary and your investigations into the Labor Great Firewall of Australia. Keep up the good work.” Thanks. You can donate too, if you like.
Yesterday’s Stilgherrian Live Road Trip was more a video thing that a liveblog, and if you really want to see all the fragments they’re online in unedited form over at Ustream. Today, however, I will be liveblogging properly — like, with actual content — from the Politics & Technology Forum, starting just before 9am Canberra time.